News Posts

Fear can take many forms, from minor phobias to life-altering conditions such as PTSD. Now, new research is shedding light on how these so-called fear memories could be changed. In this podcast, neuroscientist Daniela Schiller discusses the neural mechanisms of emotional control and potential ways to modify or “erase” fear memories.

Are crab cakes really made of crab? Do endangered species creep into street markets? How many types of bedbugs live in Brooklyn? These were just three of the dozens of research questions asked by participants in the inaugural New York City Urban Barcode Project, whose first symposium and awards ceremony took place at the Museum last week.

In addition to peer-reviewed research papers, Steve Brusatte, a graduate student at Columbia University who is advised by Museum Curator Mark Norell, has already written children’s dinosaur guides and a coffee-table book of dinosaurs and their relatives. Now, he’s added another book to the list.

Each year, people bring their shells, rocks, insects, feathers, bones, and artifacts to the Museum’s annual Identification Day. On Saturday, June 16, scientists will attempt to identify your discoveries while showing you some specimens from their own collections. Items identified in previous years have included a whale jawbone, a green beetle bracelet from Brazil, and a 5,000-year-old stone spear point from Morocco. Watch the video below for some pointers on what to bring.

On the eastern edge of Long Island Sound, a small, rocky piece of land known as Great Gull Island houses the crumbling battlements of a U.S. Army fort and some 11,000 nesting pairs of Common and Roseate Terns. The Museum purchased the island in 1949 to preserve a breeding habitat for terns displaced by increasing development on Long Island’s beaches. The acquisition has proven to be a success, as the remaining Army structures are a nesting tern’s delight.